Beam: 'Players resilient,' but tough to lose home field

Thursday

Oct 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 25, 2012 at 6:44 PM

LAWNDALE — Despite their team being a No. 1 seed in the 3A playoffs, 15 Burns High School football seniors won’t get to play a home postseason game at Ron Greene Stadium in the latest fallout from a prank that left goats in the stadium last Friday.

Fourth-year coach Matt Beam is particularly disappointed with the turn of events for the first senior group he coached for all four years with the Bulldogs.

Clark Leonard

LAWNDALE — Despite their team being a No. 1 seed in the 3A playoffs, 15 Burns High School football seniors won’t get to play a home postseason game at Ron Greene Stadium in the latest fallout from a prank that left goats in the stadium last Friday.

Fourth-year coach Matt Beam is particularly disappointed with the turn of events for the first senior group he coached for all four years with the Bulldogs.

“I just want to see them go out and be honored the way they should be honored,” Beam said.

Cleveland County Schools announced Thursday the stadium is closed for six months because of E. coli concerns and Burns will play any home playoff games at Kings Mountain High’s John Gamble Stadium.

Beam wishes his players, who did nothing wrong, didn’t have to shoulder the consequences of the situation.

“I’m not mad at anybody. I’m not upset at anybody. To be honest with you, it was just a prank that went too far,” Beam said. “And with the circumstances that were surrounding the situation with the (Cleveland County) Fair and stuff like that, it was just one of those things.”

When he first drove up to the field house last Friday and saw the goats in the stadium, Beam never imagined it would become this big of an issue. He thought it would just be a matter of cleaning up.

As much as having to move at least one home playoff game (maybe more) frustrates him, he understands the safety concerns.

He also has no worries about the way his players will respond going forward. They will look to wrap up a third straight outright conference title against county rival Shelby Friday night at Blanton Memorial Stadium.

“Kids are resilient. They’re going to play, and it doesn’t matter,” Beam said. “I’m the angriest probably. I’m the angriest because I feel sorry for them, because I am hurt for them.”

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